Giants-49ers game review: A few trouble spots pop up for the Giants

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerGiants quarterback Eli Manning was very good on Sunday against the 49ers but he and the rest of the offense couldn't finish with fourth-quarter heroics as he had in five victories earlier this season.

The Giants' players kept talking after Sunday's game about seeing the San Francisco 49ers again down the line. Brandon Jacobs, David Diehl, Mario Manningham and D.J. Ware were among those expressing hope for a rematch and indicated they were confident the next one would end differently.

Before they even think about that, the Giants have lots of areas they need to clean up.

The pass coverage and communication has to get better, which could be a challenge if Michael Boley is sidelined, particularly considering we're only two weeks removed from the Saints and Packers taking their whacks at this defense.

And the running game just isn't good enough right now. It's not being blocked well up front and the backs aren't getting enough space with which to work. It's just odd to see the Giants see as many seven-man fronts as they saw Sunday and not be able to run for over 4 yards per carry. We're so used to seeing that happen and it's just not there right now.

There are concerns with this team. Maybe not the ones we perceived coming into the season, but they're there. And much as Jerry Reese likes to say every game is tough, this stretch is proving to be everything we thought it would be. Fast fixes are needed, even as soon as this Sunday in a game that might wind up being tougher than it looks.

But as always, before we move forward, we look back...

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GAME BALLS

QB Eli Manning. Some big, big, big throws again. Plus, he nearly led that final drive for a score while being pressured on six plays, including on both fourth downs. The only thing missing was, well, the victory.

San Fran DL Justin Smith. The final batted ball was a result of his being tired. A fine play, nonetheless. And did you see the play earlier in the game when he blew up a counter run? Outstanding. I had a feeling the battle between him and Diehl would be a key one.

49ers CB Carlos Rogers. This is a bit of a reluctant game ball for a few reasons: the salsa dance was Busch League, he got trucked by FB Bear Pascoe and WR Victor Cruz was absolutely right when he said he “got the best of him throughout the game.” Cruz was getting outstanding separation and was making Rogers look silly at times.

49ers TE Delanie Walker. The former sixth-round pick in 2006 has carved out a nice little niche for himself.

Niners QB Alex Smith. If you missed his quotes after the game, he was asked about the Giants’ saying he’s merely a game manager. “I managed myself into a victory,” he said. “That’s all I could care about.”

San Fran coach Jim Harbaugh. There are just some little things like slapping other coaches on the back, giving disingenuous interviews and throwing his play sheets in the air to protest a non-holding-call that make it tough to go all the way in rooting for this seemingly good story. But credit where it's due because his team isn't just fattening up on the soft portion of its schedule. That was a great game plan to surprise the Giants with the number of throws early on and throughout the game.

S Antrel Rolle. He made a couple of big tackles to force a three-and-out on the Niners’ last drive. He also came up earlier in the game to take out a lead blocker on an outside pitch.

DE Osi Umenyiora. After Rolle’s two tackles, he recorded a clutch sack. He also saved the day by hitting Smith as he threw on a play when the Giants were without both of their starting cornerbacks.

CB Corey Webster. He had an interception plus another on a free-play chuck by Smith. He also made a goal-to-go stand practically by himself. (See below.)

WR Hakeem Nicks. A bad hamstring and constant double teams. As soon as he was singled up - boom - touchdown.

Coach Tom Coughlin. Yeah, I know they lost. But they were ready to play after an emotional victory and a flight across the country. Plus, I admire the guts in going for it on fourth-and-5 and fourth-and-6 on the final drive. "I just felt we were moving the ball and why would we stop? I wasn’t going to stop ourselves," Coughlin said. "We thought the quarterback could make the play, and he did."

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FREE-PASS PURGATORY

C David Baas. I know a lot of you weren’t pleased with his play. He did struggle against his former team. He is hurting, though, so that should be taken into account.

WR Mario Manningham. I’m playing the injury card again because he battled to get ready after dealing with a knee issue last week. Should he have stopped his route on the interception? No. Should he have laid out for the ball off his fingertips? Even he said yeah. But he caught another TD on a fade in the corner (that’s three in three weeks) and did well to get open.

Cruz. The drop before Manning's first interception was a horrendous one. But again, he did a great job of getting open all day long.

LB Greg Jones. He’s giving himself this one, I suppose, because I still can’t be certain what was supposed to happen on TE Vernon Davis’ touchdown. (No game ball for Davis because, frankly, I could have scored on that play.) Jones said he should have run with Davis, even though it appeared the Giants were in a zone coverage there. Jones’ calling out himself plus the holding penalty on the kick return late in the second half have landed him in Gasserville. 4:09 p.m. UPDATE Coughlin confirmed on his conference call today Jones should have stayed with Davis.

5:32 p.m. UPDATE Once Coughlin confirmed Jones should've covered Davis, I went back and watched the play a number of times. CB Michael Coe said it was Cover-3, which is a zone. But Jones and Coughlin saying he should have run with Davis (like Deon Grant did with Walker up the middle of the field) means at some point it converts to man based on the route combinations. That's an awful lot to ask of Jones after first checking his run keys on a second-and-4. Maybe Boley could have handled that and maybe Jones thinks he could have dealt with it, but in my opinion, that's a ton of responsibility. No wonder he was confused and had trouble making up his mind. If that's a regular Cover-3 look, Grant stays home, Davis runs right into him and Smith has to go elsewhere with the ball.

LB Spencer Paysinger, WR Ramses Barden and S Tyler Sash. All young guys but they have to be ready for that onside kick. Also, Paysinger missed a block on the kick return after the Niners’ first touchdown of the fourth quarter, pinning the Giants at their own 10.

RT Kareem McKenzie. For reasons outlined below.

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerGiants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks said a pregame prayer with strength coach Jerry Palmieri after stretching his hamstring in preparation for the game against the 49ers.

S Derrick Martin. He thought he got his face mask grabbed on the last of his penalties but he had three in all and heard from Coughlin about it.

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UNDER-THE-RADAR PLAY

Remember, this is the new feature where we mention a play that probably didn’t make many stories. For me, it’s the misfire to Nicks by Manning on a scramble with 35 seconds left in the third quarter. He’s on the move because McKenzie missed a block on rookie LB Aldon Smith. There was an odd moment as Manning is getting away and McKenzie clubs Smith in the back of the head as he’s stumbling in front of him. That’s frustration getting the better of McKenzie there.

Anyway, Nicks had come free because Bowman had peeled off to chase Manning. The ball was at Nicks’ feet, though. P Steve Weatherford followed with a 29-yard shank, Walker forced an offside penalty against DE Dave Tollefson (that surely had to be a false start) and the Niners proceeded to score 15 points in the next 3 minutes. That whole sequence, beginning with the missed throw, changed the game.

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SECOND GUESSES

So I had a few people on email and on Twitter Sunday night and this morning asking why Willis wasn’t called for holding, illegal contact or pass interference for impeding TE Jake Ballard on the fourth-and-2 incompletion to end the comeback attempt. Well, firstly, it was within 5 yards, so throw illegal contact out. Secondly, he lets up as Manning starts to throw, so there’s no pass-interference possibility, in my opinion. Now, if you want to call it holding, that’s your best shot at a debate here. Willis threw his shoulder into Ballard and started to wrap his arms around him. But he didn’t complete that action. There was no tugging, no pulling and no grabbing. It certainly didn’t look like any jam at the line we’ve ever seen, so many perceived it to be illegal. I didn’t. I thought it was a good, clean, smart play.

4:14 p.m. UPDATE Coughlin disagrees with the above. He said it's "safe to say" that was defensive holding.

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerOnce again, Giants running back Brandon Jacobs didn't have much room to run but created some by breaking four tackles for an extra 28 yards against the 49ers.

Now, if you’re looking for a holding call on Willis, go back to third-and-6 at the end of the Giants’ first drive. It’s a very, very similar play to the final fourth down, other than the formation being flipped the other way. Ballard heads up the seam to clear out for Cruz’s slant. Because it’s 6 yards to go for the first down, Willis gives him a cushion. But about 3 yards off the ball, Ballard rips under Willis, who then seems to grab a hold of his arm and chest as he runs with him — past the 5-yard legal contact zone. Ballard has his right arm up as Cruz is tackled for a gain of only 4 yards, as if to signal, “Where’s the flag?” There was none, though perhaps there should have been one for holding or illegal contact. That would have given the Giants first-and-goal at the 5 instead of a field goal and a 3-0 lead.

The Giants used Ballard as a vertical threat to clear the way for Cruz a bunch of times. They also did it on Cruz’s 18-yard catch to start the second quarter. They knew Cruz could get a clean release because, as we’ve mentioned here a few times, he’s extremely slippery coming off the line. That would give him plenty of room to operate inside against man-coverage looks.

By the way, what’d I tell you last week? Ballard got way too many free releases off the line against New England and I just had a feeling teams were going to start whacking him before he could get into his route. That’s exaclty what San Fran did for a good part the game — not just on the final play — and it was effective. Ballard had only three catches for 35 yards. His 17-yarder came when they blitzed from his side, giving him a huge cushion in front of S Donte Whitner. He had a 15-yarder when Willis, who was in position to jam him, instead let him up the field and ran with him after trying to take inside leverage. That was the one mistake I could find in Willis’ game Sunday.

As for the third-and-2 run before the failed fourth-and-2, the Giants had run the same (or similar) play for 7, 4, 3, 5, minus-1, 6, minus-4, 1 and 4 yards before they called it. In other words, they had gotten what they needed there six of the previous nine times. I can’t fault them for thinking they could get it again. One thing to note: usually RB Ahmad Bradshaw is the Giants’ third-down runner. Obviously, he wasn’t available. Could they have gone with RB Da’Rel Scott there and tried an outside pitch play, as they’re wont to do with Bradshaw? Yeah, perhaps. But I can’t kill them. It was a great play by Willis.

Missed call: Niners WR Braylon Edwards’ pick on Rolle on the 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter. Also, that was too early to go for 2. In the words of Cruz, “But whatever…”

I’m not sure where I stand on the non-call on CB Chris Culliver on the fade to Manningham on the final drive. There was some grabbing and I would have been fine with a flag. But there’s also a part of me that says, “Let ‘em play.”

So CB Aaron Ross and Boley are out of the game, it’s first-and-goal at the 10 and what do the Niners do? They throw at Webster on three straight plays — all incomplete — and settle for a field goal. WR Michael Crabtree had the first one go off his hands and Webster did some jersey-grabbing on the second, and maybe the third one is a TD, but Webster played very good coverage during that sequence and that’s why everything had to be perfect. The Niners are lucky that didn’t come back to bite them because that was horrible play calling and decision making right there.

I started to think, “What the hell is he doing?” when Manning went deep into double coverage for Cruz on the first offensive play of the third quarter. But then I remembered saying that a few times earlier this season (i.e. jump balls into double coverage against the Eagles and Seahawks) and eating my words. So I shut up.

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerGiants quarterback Eli Manning's throw to Victor Cruz into double coverage against the 49ers might have seemed like a bad idea but similar decisions resulted in touchdowns earlier this year.

It was madness getting to the postgame press conferences. We had to go through the crowd and across the field. That’s a long way of saying we forgot to ask Coughlin about the challenge of the punt that bounced near Ginn. I can tell you he challenged before we saw a clear replay in the press box, so he was definitely just taking a shot there and thought it was worth the gamble. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were criticizing Coughlin for the challenge but they had the benefit of replays during the break. Coughlin didn’t.

Barden made a couple of nice plays in the red zone last week and then we didn’t see him this week as the Giants’ struggled deep in Niners’ territory. Scratching my head on that one.

I didn’t notice until today (and apparently neither did the officials) LT Will Beatty was 5 yards downfield on Manning’s near-interception with 6:14 left in the third quarter. The next play, a second-and-10, was a 15-yard run by Jacobs. It should have been first-and-15. Would that have changed the drive that ended in a Giants TD? Maybe. And would the Giants’ final touchdown drive have been altered if Beatty had been flagged for grabbing Smith around the neck? Again, maybe. Instead, that play resulted in an illegal-contact call on the Niners.

There was some debate in the press box whether Paysinger deserved a penalty for a late hit at the end of Smith’s run for 11 yards late in the third quarter. I say it was a very good non-call.

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ODDS AND (TIGHT) ENDS

Did you see assistant special teams coach Larry Izzo’s reaction during and after the onside kick? He leaps up on the sideline and then throws a left fist down when the Niners recover. Speaking of that play, I corrected in the entry on the onside kick (linked above) but wanted to do so again here: LB Jacquian Williams wasn’t one of the three closest to the ball. He was on the other side. Sash was the center on that front line. The reason Williams was relatively close was he actually had a decent reaction on that one. Apologies for the mixup.

Williams wasn’t so hot in his zone drops early in the season but had gotten better in that department recently. On Sunday, he struggled a bit on one play. It was a third-and-8 on the opening drive on which the Giants appeared to run a basic Cover-2. Again, the Niners needed 8 yards. I reiterate that one because Williams was frozen for about a half-second (and that was enough) when RB Frank Gore released over the middle. That opened a window for Smith to find WR Ted Ginn running the dig route behind Williams. That’s a mental mistake because Gore isn’t the guy who’s going to hurt you there; it’s the guy attacking the soft spot behind you. Let Gore catch the ball and then come up to make the tackle. Know the down, distance and situation. Williams didn’t. That’s why the potential loss of Boley for a few games is a killer.

But to say the Giants had perfect communication when all of their veterans were in there would be a mistake as well. On a third-and-1 with 3:53 left in the second quarter, the Niners got 18 yards when Walker ran free over the middle. It was clearly a man-coverage call based on how the DBs played it, and S Deon Grant followed Walker across the formation when he went in motion. But Walker crossed with Gore at the snap, meaning Grant now had Gore. Walker ran right past Boley and LB Mathias Kiwanuka, neither of whom picked him up. If I had to guess, I’d say Kiwanuka was supposed to cover Walker there. Had that been covered well enough to force a stop, the momentum of the onside kick right before then might have been thwarted.

If you’re sensing a theme, by the way, it’s that the Niners clearly thought they could exploit the Giants’ linebackers over the middle on short and intermediate crossing routes. (They hit one over Jones for 21 yards earlier in the second quarter.) Good scheming and great execution.

An offside penalty on Umenyiora negated an interception by Webster. My initial reaction while watching live was Smith chucked that ball because he knew he had a free play. After watching it a few times on replay, I’m convinced that was the case. In other words, that’s not a “What if…” scenario right there. If Umenyiora doesn’t go offside, that ball is never thrown and there’s no interception.

I didn’t mention this in the gasser section because he’s a rookie and was getting thrown into action in a hurry but Paysinger’s first two run plays weren’t the prettiest. Even Aikman was chuckling when talking about how Paysinger was spinning around on RB Kendall Hunter’s 11-yard gain. Two plays later, Paysinger got pinned inside on an 8-yard pitch his way.

Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger49ers tight end Vernon Davis leaped over Giants safety Kenny Phillips for a touchdown Tom Coughlin said was "too easy" on account of a blown coverage.

We saw a five-defensive-lineman alignment from the Giants a few weeks ago. Sunday, we saw a variation: four linemen and four linebackers. One of the LBs was Tollefson, who played the strong side a bit in the “big base” defense last year. Sunday’s package did just okay, as the Giants gave up 23 yards on five carries and an incomplete pass with that look on the field. Fourteen of those yards came when San Fran picked up 8 and 6 against that look when Paysinger got pinned and then kicked back.

I’d have to see the angle from behind the play to be sure but I think Jacobs had a shot for a big run on first-and-10 with 8:03 to play in the third quarter. The Giants ran an unbalanced line out there and ran away from the strong side. From the TV angle, it seems there’s a gap between Ballard (who was the right tackle on the play) and RG Chris Snee. McKenzie (the tight end on the right side) misses a block and LB Parys Haralson crashes down to stop Jacobs. It didn’t matter because the Giants went down and scored their first touchdown on that drive.

DE Jason Pierre-Paul could have had a pair of sacks Sunday — on back-to-back plays in the third quarter, in fact. He missed both and remains third in the NFL with 9½ sacks. DE Justin Tuck, who clearly isn't himself right now, also missed a sack.

And finally, you should have seen referee Tony Corrente yelling at the sideline broadcast coordinator late in the first half. (Not that I expected Fox to show you.) It had something to do with the TV timeout that was taken when Boley got hurt. Obviously, I couldn’t tell from the press box but what was clear was Corrente was livid about something. He was barking, pointing and bobbing his head for a good couple of minutes. It was kind of ironic because the officials are usually the ones that get reamed like that. He looked like one of the coaches the way he was yelling there.